For the first time since 2019, the Elm City Freddy Fixer Parade is back on June 4, 2023. The event that celebrates the Black history and culture of New Haven and the Dixwell neighborhood will return for its 60th year.
At the Harris and Tucker School in Hamden, it doesn’t take much to get a going bunch of children excited. They excitedly shared their favorite superheroes that they’ve seen in the parade.
“It was Spiderman, Hulk, Superman,” one child shared. Then another jumped in and shouted “Black Panther!”
The kids will be in the parade this year.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
“We plan on having a big old float this year and riding,” said Kim Harris. “We’re going to be loud and proud.”
Harris says she’s never missed a parade since the tradition began in 1963 to honor local Black heroes, community leaders and businesses.
The parade was postponed during covid and last year organizers called it off because of a funding shortfall to cover thousands in police overtime.
Local
“We have a strong sense of culture and when a piece of that culture is missing from who you are, it hurts,” Harris said.
Parade committee president Chanelle Goldson says the return will bringing back the goals of Dr. Freddy Smith, and the other founders, to fix the world around you.
“Neighborhood beautification, community activism, and then pride in who you are, pride in your community,” said Goldson. “So that’s a big thing and even this year our theme for our community clean up is ‘take pride in where you reside."
Documents from the New Haven Museum show decades of honors for Smith, who was a local physician. At one point, nearly 30,000 people came out to see one of New England’s only Black parades.
“It was massive seeing the amounts of people,” Harris said. “And I mean people were lined up shoulder to shoulder.”
The numbers got smaller over the years, but the pride in New Haven couldn’t be any bigger.
“It’s always like a reunion, between family, between friends, neighbors you haven’t seen for years,” Goldson said. “People come up from the south to come there.”
But Goldson is concerned once again about covering an estimated $50,000 in police overtime. She says there are just a few people on the committee tasked with raising $100,000 and half needs to go pay police for road closures and safety.
“The current grants that we do have, they specifically say no police overtime,” she explains. “So, they’ll pay for artists, they’ll pay for cash prizes, venue spaces, but they won’t pay for police overtime so donations are definitely needed.”
She says fundraising efforts are underway, and the committee and the city are in conversation about the cost.
Typically, we see what groups can do as far as helping out with police overtime, but at the same time, the city will oftentimes support and eat some of the costs as well, you know, because it’s a balance and we really want to make these events happen,” said Mayor Justin Elicker.
This year, a citywide community cleanup day is scheduled for May 20 and the Dixwell Community Festival is June 3. The 60th Annual Freddy Fixer Parade is June 4.
